IRNP JOURNAL - More Photos

IRNP JOURNAL - Day 9 07/11/2009

Saturday - Homeward Bound

We set the alarm clock for 6:15.am We had enough time to get our boat loaded up with all the gear and get to Rock Harbor by the required time of 7:30am. We tied up at the gas dock where they would then load the boat onto the Ranger . We then headed over to the gas dock for a sweet roll and some coffee and a to buy a souvenir from the gift shop. We then got in line to get on the Ranger. Trevor and his wife, who we met at McCargoe Cove, would be riding back with us today. The ride was supposed to be smooth with light southwest winds and blue skies. It ended up being a litlle wavy once we got a little closer to the Kewenaw Peninsula. The wind was blowing pretty good and there four to five foot waves. The Ranger was rocking a little bit, and waves were splashing up to window. I noticed a wind surfer running along the side of the Ranger.  We arrived in Houghton by 3pm and offloaded the boat and then headed over to check into the hotel for the night.

IRNP JOURNAL - Day 8 07/10/2009

Friday - Caribou Island

We all woke up at 6:45am. The wind was fairly light so we decided to pack up and head over to Cariboue Island. We wanted to get a shelter, and an early start will usually always insure we get one. We were loaded up in a half hour. We idled out of Chippewa Harbor and headed along the shoreline to the east. There were 2 foot waves at our back and they subsided a bit around Conglomerate Bay.

We arrived at Caribou Island at 8am. There was a sailboat tied to the dock and 3 kayaks near the shore as well. It was definetly occupied. We were hoping that somebody would be leaving this morning. Ray noticed that the sailboat was the same one that stayed here with us last year. The sailboat was named "Wild Fjords". It was Dan Bugge and his daughter Aurora and they from Minnesota.

Ray spoke to the kayaking group that was occupying the shelter and they told him they would be leaving around 11pm. We unloaded our gear and placed it by the picnic table and then headed over to Rock Harbor to to get some Ice, hotdog buns, and something to make for breakfast. We made it back to Caribou and I made breakfast. we had eggs, bacon, and sausage.

Dan & Aurora were awake now and we greeted them and sat and talked for a bit. The temperture was warm and some of us decided to take a swim. Aurora had spotted a fork and spoon at the bottom of the lake next to the dock. She convinced us we should try a retrieve them since we were going in anyway. She had a snorkling mask to help us out. I was the first to try but was unsuccessful. It was just to damn cold! Paul jumped in and got the fork on the first try. He jumped in a second time and retrieved the spoon. We all just kinda hung around the dock area and ended jumping in again because of the warm temps. All four of us jumped in. We just kinda lazed around until 5:30pm.  The plan was to go visit Rolf & Candy Peterson at the Bangsund Cabin. We decided we would troll over to the cabin and ended up making a circle around one of the middle passge islands. We ended up catching 3 lake trout around this little island. All fish caught on spoons and lead core line. I will be taking some lake trout home this year!

We decided to keep fishing and headed over to a underwater hump near Conglomerate Bay. We trolled aound this area with no takers and then headed back to the middle passage island. We headed back to Caribou Island around 9pm. I idled to out to filet the lake trout, dumping the remains in deep water. I then idled back to the dock and began to unline the poles and get them all strapped together.

At sunset we walked to the western tip of the island where we discovered a shed with an old deisel generator and some dock cribbings around the shoreline. We headed back to the shelter, grabbing any good firewood we could find. We drank a few beers around the fire with the four of us and Dan & Aurora. I headed to bed after Aurora's big fire finale. Ray & Paul grabbed their sleeping bags and headed down to the dock to sleep under the stars.  I tossed and turned for an hour before finally dozing off around midnight.

IRNP JOURNAL - Day 7 07/09/2009

Thursday - Chippewa Harbor

I awoke at 9AM to a warm sunny morning. I noticed Ray was already off some where with camera in hand. He had mentioned the night before that he was going for an early morning hike to Lake Ritchie. He returned unsuccessful at around 10am. We have only seen one moose this trip, and we could barely see it. Last year we saw 2 moose in the first 2 hours. After he returned we had a quick breakfast of cereal and bagels.

We headed down to the dock to do dome fishing in the harbor when the Voyager III pulled up at it's scheduled time and dropped off three  passengers. There were 2 ladies who worked at the lodge. There plans were to hike from here all the way back to Rock Harbor today, a distance of about 17 miles! Impressive.

The third passager was a guy named Joe Iskrzycki. We saw him hanging around Rock Harbor yesterday. He was a math teacher from Bolingbrook Illinois. He had a canoe and 4 giant duluth bags. We helped him carry his gear to the shelter next to ours. The one that I carried up the hill was insanely heavy. After chatting with him he told us he was here for a 24 day trip. He was leaving August 1st.

After helping Joe we headed back to the dock and 2 boats pulled up to the dock. They were a group of 6 or 7 people from Calumet who had just come in from across Lake Superior. They said it was smooth sailing all th way across. They were staying here for the night and proceeded to take their gear to an open shelter.

We loaded up the boat with cold refreshments and headed out to do some trolling for northern pike. We trolled the usual route along the north shoreline all the to the west end of the harbor. We had no takers so we switched to casting a small reedy bay nearby. We caught one small one and saw a whole mess of them but they were just not in feeding mode. We saw some huige fish but they were real hesitant. I was just amazed how many pike were around this reedy area. After an hour or so we gave up and continued trolling. We trolled towards to small bay near the narrows. We casted this small bay but it was the same story here, with alot of pike spotted but none that would give in to our offerings. We gave up after a half hour and headed back to the dock.

I prepared dinner and Paul cleaned up after us. I hiked to the top of the ridge behind the shelters and tried to make a phone call. It didn't go through. I would get a signal but no calls would go through. I took a twenty minute nap on the top of the ridge, and then returned to the shelter. We chatted with Jim for a bit and then shared an adult beverage with the people from Calumet, who were hanging out by the dock. The black flies were out tonight and were tearing up my dad. I started a fire in the grill and we hung around it for an hour or so. The smoke helped out with the black flies and mosquitos. It warmed up noticeably around 10pm. We all were in bed by 11:30pm.

IRNP JOURNAL - Day 6 07/08/2009

Wednesday - Chippewa Harbor

I awoke at 6am and the guys woke up shortly thereafter. We took care of business and then packed up our gear and loaded up the boat. We were going to stay at Chippewa Harbor tonight! The weather was perfect with clear blue skies and light winds. We loaded up and pulled away from the Birch Island dock at 7:15am. We made a quick stop at Brian's island to fetch the remaining beer stash. Then it was a short ride around Scoville Point to Rock Harbor to refuel. After refueling we all took showers, then load up on ice and some food and snacks.

The Ranger was at the main dock and Ray wanted to get some photos from the water so I took him out in  Snug Harbor in the boat to get a different prospective. He snapped a photos and then we idled back to the docks and picked up Paul and Dad.The Ranger pulled out ahead of us by 10 minutes or so. We then headed out towards Chippewa Harbor. We were behind the Ranger all the way past the Rock Harbor Lighhouse and Ray snapped a few photos as we went along. We motored past the Ranger III and then headed around the point to Chippewa Harbor, arriving by 10:30am. The lake was smooth, the sky was clear and the temperture was warm.

Chippewa Harbor is one of my favorite spots at IRNP. We always stay at shelter #1 and since there was noone else at the site we occupied it again this year.After unloading our gear into the shelter and cleaning up the boat a bit, we all had bagels and cream cheese and some other snacks. Paul, Dad and I geared up to do some northern pike trolling in Chippewa Harbor. I caught a giant here last year and we were all hoping to hook up with another one this year.

We pulled away from the dock and trolled the entire north shore of Chippewa Harbor all the to the western end near the portage to Lake Whittlesey, then along the south side until we ended up at the small bay near the narrows. We trolled the usual rapalas and spoons. Nothing caught the entire way. We then casted in the small bay with rapalas. There are some more weed beds back in this area and we have always had good luck casting in here. Paul and I caught undersized pike. Water temp was 60 degree and we saw alot of roaming pike but they didn't seem interested in anything I had to offer. We tried all types of lures but they just weren't going to budge!

We were getting hungry so after a couple of hours of fishing we headed back to the dock to make dinner. Before dinner Ray, Paul and I hiked over to the small cabin in Chippewa Harbor. We then hiked up to the top of the ridge and enjoyed the view and nice cool breeze at the top. I tried to make a phone call to my daughter by it wouldn't go through. After relaxing for about 20 minutes we hiked back down to the shelter so I could prepare our feast of chili dogs and the last of the lake trout we found in the cooler. No other hiker showed up and we had the place to ourselfs. Around 9pm I gathered some firewood and started a small fire in the grill. We had a few beers and chatted while using the smoke of the fire as a mosquito repellent. We all went to bed around 11pm under a clear starf illed sky. The moon was rising just as we went to bed.

IRNP JOURNAL - Day 5 07/07/2009

Tuesday - Birch Island

I woke up around 7am. I spent most of the night tossing and turning and only got about 2 or 3 hours of sleep. The inflatable mattress I was using had a slow leak in it and I was uncomfortable all night. Paul was still sleeping outside next to the dock and his sleeping bag was wet from the dew and from his body heat. He said he sleep like a baby all night.

Once we were all awake and alert we headed out of Brady Cove for some more pike action. We fished for 2 hours, catching and releasing around a dozen pike. Nothing too big. After fishing we headed back to Birch Island where I prepared a breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon. Ray & Paul cleaned up.

After breakfast we loaded up some snacks and hopped in the boat and headed down to McCargoe Cove. We trolled the entire way there with Rapalas and dardevl spoons but nothing was biting. A sail boat came into the harbor and was ahead of us. They pulled off into to a small bay before the McCargoe Cove dock and anchored there. I had just reeled up my line and tossed out my lure when somehow I dropped the rod and reel into the water. I watched it dissapear into the abyss We were sitiing in about 30 feet of water. After a second I realized that I had casted the floating rapala a good distance so there was pleanty of line out. since the lure was a floating one, we looked for it around the area i casted. I spotted the lure floating and we idled over to it and I reached in a pulled the line in and wound up saving my rod!

Once we got to the area in front of McCargoe Cove, we casted a bit for pike. One of us made a cast and ended up hooking Paul's hat. Thankfully it only hooked his hat and not his noggin! A couple years ago we were fishing in Brady cove and Paul managed to get a large treble hook embedded into his heal.

After twenty minutes of casting and just one small pike to show for it, we tied up to the dock at Mccargoe Cove at 2:30pm. As far as we could tell there wasn't anybody at McCargoe Cove except for a guy from Ypsilanti named Trevor. His wife was in a shelter napping and we chatted a bit near the fire pit. They were staying at ISNP for 17 days and were going to be heading back to Houghton with us on the Ranger on Saturday. I offered up a cold refreshment and he gladly accepted. Ray hung around the area taking photos of the abundant flowers around the area. After about 20 minutes of chatiing with Trevor, a couple groups of hiker's came walking up the trail from Chickenbone Lake and proceeded to claim shelters. One of the hiker's was a guy from Charlevoix named Kirk. He came over near the fire pit where we were all sitting. I offered him up a cold refreshment as well and his eyes lit up! He thanked us and headed back to his group.

Then a few of the hiker's came down to the dock for a swim. At about the same time Ranger Carl tied up to the dock and chatted with some of the hiker's before making his rounds.

We then loaded up on snacks and water and headed to the mines. After a short hike we arrived there. We found the deep hole with the horizontal shaft and it had rail tracks running through it. Ray snapped a few photos. We all ate our snack that we had brought and then hung out near the mines for about an hour. We then walked back to the boat and headed back to Birch Island.

Entrance to the horizontal shaft at Minong Mine.

We arrived at Birch Island and a canoe pulled up at the same time. We immediately recognized the guy in the canoe. He worked at the fuel dock in rock Harbor. His name was Ryan. He was enjoying a few days off by doing a little canoeing and fishing. He had just got done trying his luck at fishing in Brady Cove with no takers. He admitted he wasn't a very experienced fisherman and was having a hard time with it. He was using a giant pole he borrowed from another worker on the island. He had a big Believer muskie lure tied on and was only using 10lb test line. I offered to take him out later in the evening and show him how to catch these Isle Royale northerns.

I cooked up the remaining lake trout fillets and hamburgers for dinner. I offered some lake trout to Ryan and he gladly accepted. After Ray and Dad cleaned up, we all got in the boat to do some more fishing for pike with Ryan . I was determined to help him land his first IR pike. I idled back towards the reeds on the north side of the cove and tied on a pink fluke for Ryan. I showed him how to toss it right into the reeds and jerk it out like a wounded fish. He had a few bites but didn't hook one. The rest of us managed to catch 5 or 6 pike with Paul catching the biggest one, a 34 incher. Our total fish caught for the trip so far was 42!

We worked the reedy shoreline all the way to the small creek in the very back of Brady cove. Ryan had quite a few hits and follows but just couldn't get one hooked and in the boat. He was excited just to get some kinda action and wasn't the least bit dissapointed that he didn't land one. He now has the knowledge to come back another time and catch one of those water wolfs. I gave him a couple of pink flukes and a rapala to use and he happily accepted. I also showed him how to tie a proper knot. He thanked us for the lures and the tips.

We headed back to the dock around sunset. We chatted around the picnic table while drinking some beer and a few sips of Crown Royale. Bats were flying above us so Paul grabbed a sock and put a handful of rocks inside, made a knot, and then proceeded to toss the sock straight up into the air. It was amusing to watch as the bats would detect the motion and swoop down at the sock. He tossed his hat up a few times as well with the same results.

After the evenings entertainment, we called it a night around 11:30pm. The full moon had justed popped over the ridge and into sight. It was so bright it casted shadows as if there was a streetlight on Birch Island. I dozed off around midnight.